


They are not glass threads

by panamdea



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: X-wing Series - Aaron Allston & Michael Stackpole, Star Wars Legends: X-wing Series - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-01
Updated: 2015-08-01
Packaged: 2018-04-12 09:31:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4474178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panamdea/pseuds/panamdea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jek Porkins was Wes Janson's first friend in the Rebellion. They are bound through shared experience in training and their first, brutal, combat mission together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	They are not glass threads

**Author's Note:**

> If you've not read _Wraith Squadron_ then this might not make sense - but if you're reading fic with these characters I figure the chances are high that you have. 
> 
> I reckon that even though they didn't know each other long, Porkins looked out for the young Wes Janson in the Yellow Aces - helped Wes cope with the emotional fall out from his first live combat experience and, like all really good friends, influenced him for the rest of his life.
> 
> If you squint a bit there's a line that suggests someone might think someone might be considered potentially suicidal but it isn't overt. 
> 
> Originally posted on wraithsquadron.livejournal.com July 2015. Written on my phone in a fit of insomnia and tidied up a bit on a train (yay modern technology). Completely unbeated - constructive criticism greatly appreciated.
> 
> ~~~~
> 
> When friendships are real, they are not glass threads or frost work, but are the solidest things we can know. - Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Porkins studies the new recruits, weighing them up, deciding who they are. The youngest is all watchful silences and sudden manic grins and Jek wonders what his story is, figures he won't last long. 

Janson's sharp-edged humour alienates many, his habit of throwing his fists around more. He tries it with Porkins once and quickly learns that big doesn't mean slow and heavy-worlders shouldn't be easily dismissed. When the kid can breathe again he laughs with pure unexpected delight and demands Porkins show him how he took him down so easily. He learns fast. 

Their instructors notice they're now Wes and Piggy and soon they're paired more often than not. 

Wes learns gunnery skills as fast as he learned Porkins' unarmed combat moves and Jek is privately sure the kid's already the better pilot. He learns, too, to work with the rest of the squad and the brittle edge fades from his manic grins. 

Their first mission goes bad before it even starts. Wes' first shot, focused, intentional and accurate, saves the squadron but isn't enough to save a frightened squadmate. Porkins hears Wes' quick caught breath – the swallowed acknowledgment of what he had to do, what he has done and how he failed – and for a fragile, elongated moment of uncertainty he fears he'll lose him. Then training pays off. They stay on mission, fight, survive. Win by some definitions. 

But stifled silence, not triumph, fills the squadron's frequency as they return to base and Wes retreats from the quiet sympathy on every face. _It wasn't his fault_ , they all say, and Porkins knows they mean it, wonders if Wes will ever believe it. 

Doran's gunner is nearly dead of exposure when the wrecked Y-wing is retrieved. Wes sits by her tank and then her bed and when she wakes pours out his apology in a stream of incoherent grief and guilt. _It wasn't his fault_ , she repeats to Porkins over Wes' shaking shoulders. _His first kill_ , Porkins replies and the understanding blooms across her face. 

When Wes gets blind drunk with the intense concentration he usually applies to gunnery drills it is Piggy who drags him to medical. He sits by the bed watching his gunner, his friend, shiver in miserable unconsciousness, feels silent relief it wasn't worse. The kid will last a little longer. 

But after, Wes' manic grin is gone and Jek can see the difference in his eyes. His friend is no longer a kid and he knows nothing he can say will help. Knows he'll try regardless. 


End file.
